New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

[LwrdXtreme2K]

I am new to the forums and am quite impressed with all of this information that is available. I am trying to figure out what items to use all from meguiars; so I dont have products from multiple companies. I have a black Truck, Harley and Red Rock Crystal Jeep that need detail.
What I like to get out of this is to have a nice wet mirror look to the paint. I have been thinking that I need these items at your recommendation after I clay. There are so many to choose from and I am having a hard time just deciding. Thanks for your help.
Polish
Glaze
Wax

[akimel]

Re: New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

Hi! Will you be working exclusively by hand, or are you also considering purchasing a dual-action polisher? That affects our recommendations.

[LwrdXtreme2K]

Re: New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

Glad you asked that I forgot to tell you. I will be working everything by hand. Down the road I would like to get a polisher to make life easier.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

You'll want the basics to start with,

5-Gallon Bucket and a Grit Guard, quality car wash mitts, drying towels. Grit Guard inserts need to be ordered from www.gritguard.com we offer premium quality products for washing and drying your vehicle's paint.

Clear coat paints scratch very easily, so if you want to maintain a great looking finish then anything that touches the paint needs to be soft and gentle to the paint.

Anyone that works on the paint has to be careful, thus it's pretty hard to turn the car washing process over to a car wash so this means you have to take ownership of the car wash process.

See this thread and look at the pictures and you'll see what a grit guard insert is,

How to quickly, easily and accurately mix your car wash solution

You're going to need a quality car wash for the actual soap solution, most people on this forum go with either Gold Class or NXT Car wash, both are non-detergent car washes and both work great.

You're Jeep undoubtedly had black plastic trim so you're going to want to get G10810 Gold Class Trim Detailer





If you click on the below link it will take you to the product directory for our online store where you can scroll around and look at the different options mentioned in your thread,

http://www.meguiars.com/estore/product_list.cfm

[akimel]

Re: New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

Three vehicles by hand--that's a lot of work ahead of you!

You can go two routes--dedicated products for each step or combine some of the steps by using all-in-one products. For example, see my article "Your Daily Driver." You will note that a cleaner wax, such as ColorX, is recommended. ColorX will clean and polish your paint, as well as leave behind a layer of protection. To get that wet reflective look, you could then top it with NXT. This would be a practical and doable way for you to begin your detailing.

But if you want to get more ambitious, then instead of using a cleaner wax, you might instead get a cleaner-polish, such as SwirlX or Ultimate Compound (or both). After polishing, you would then apply two coats of NXT (or wax of your choice).

Whichever route you choose, you will want to clay each vehicle before polishing it.

You also could combine these two, in the sense that you might go the dedicated product route to get your vehicles looking as good as you can, and then you could maintain them by going the cleaner wax route.

How does that sound?

Cheers,
Al

[LwrdXtreme2K]

Re: New Guy Here; Help me choose products.

Wow plenty of great responses. I will start looking around the site more and take your advice. My main priority is to get the bike looking the best right now for riding season. I am starting on the bike then moving to the Jeep. When its not covered with mud I like it to look good! (The jeep that is)
Thanks guys!